This article is a continuation of our chat with Dr. Meagher from last week! You can read Part I here, where Dr. Meagher talks about her childhood, medical training, her family, and advice she gives to her own children. Today, we talk to Dr. Meagher about her favorite projects at Penn, translational research, and her visions for the future of biomedical science.

At Penn, Dr. Meagher tells us that one of her favorite undertakings is the work she has done in the educational sector to bridge the gap between MD-educated clinicians and PhD scientists. “The reality is that most of what informs clinical care is what happens in the space in-between the two.” She says that she is most proud of her work in, “Building an educational opportunity in that interspace…marrying the concepts derived from the bench into the delivery of diagnostics or treatment approaches for improvement of patient care. That has been a real labor of love.” When Dr. Meagher began working at Penn in the mid-1990s, there was no infrastructure available for this type of bridging to take place. Today, there are a number of programs designed to support undergraduates, pre-doctoral research students, medical students, residents, fellows, and faculty in maneuvering across this gap. Most notably, Dr. Meagher is the Program Director of the Masters in Translational Research Program, for medical students interested in working as investigators in the translational research space.

In addition to her work in education, Dr. Meagher also found the process of taking a drug through from bench research to FDA approval to be particularly fulfilling. “I worked with a team on bringing a drug the whole way through to FDA approval, and that was neat.” The drug was for patients with a genetic form of hypercholesterolemia and it lowers LDL cholesterol. (She asks us, “Do you remember that from your lectures?”) She and Dr. Dan Rader were collaborators on this project and Dr. Meagher was the PI on many of the Phase I, II, and III clinical protocols.Check out one of Dr. Meagher's recently published papers from this project here.

...marrying the concepts derived from the bench into the delivery of diagnostics or treatment approaches for improvement of patient care. That has been a real labor of love.”

All of this experience in the translational research world has given Dr. Meagher a very clear idea of the progress within and existing barriers to bringing high quality research into clinical practice. Many of her roles at the University focus on one large question, “How do we facilitate translational science?” “In this translational science world, what we end up seeing is a lot of very bright, motivated people saying, ‘It’s not worth the hassle.’ All of these hurdles, apparent or real, provide a huge disincentive to people engaging in this space.” Besides the difficulties of IRB approval and GLP (Good Laboratory Practice) protocols, there is the issue of conflict of interest—you cannot financially benefit from your research. “That stifles innovation.”

“At a place like Penn, and part of the reason I’ve never felt of what I do as a job, the people you are surrounded by are so friggin’ smart, it’s like this cauldron of potential. All spilling over with ideas of what they want to do.” Dr. Meagher is interested in helping people move these ideas forward and bring them to fruition. She tells us that at the moment she is putting a lot of her time and energy into figuring out ways to help people move these translational projects along in a way in which, “…their energy and their expertise isn’t sucked dry by picky nonsense along the way.” Amongst her many projects in this area, her team is seeking approval for a Masters of Regulatory Science program and asking questions about whether the current construct for human drug development really makes sense. Is there a better way we can be doing this? When we ask her what she sees as the next big movements in scientific world, she tells us that they really go hand-in-hand with how the regulatory process is carried out. The work that has been carried out in Carl June’s lab in the immunotherapy space is one model for translational medicine. His lab developed CART immunotherapy, in which immune cells (T cells) are drawn from a patient's blood. Then, using CAR technology, the T cells are re-coded to identify and seek out cells that express proteins present on a patient's cancerous tumor. When the T cells are re-introduced into the patient's blood, they bind to the targeted cancer cells and destroy them. (Learn more here!)

“Immunotherapy really gives you a window into the potential of taking a patient and developing a treatment for that patient.” Though we hear the term “personalized medicine” constantly, this is where it is truly coming into play. “I think the paradigm of immunotherapy opens the potential for us being very creative in how we bring novel innovations into humans.” “Maybe I’m just a ridiculous optimist, but I really do feel that I’m going to see [the success of personalized medicine] within my lifetime. I really do get the sense that we are on the cusp of making really tangible changes. And the reason we are is because regulatory bodies realize they are impeding progress. Academia is realizing that they can’t go solo. And pharma is realizing that the era of perennial blockbuster drugs is diminishing. I think that those three windows are all occurring in tandem. I really think we’re about to do some really neat things. And I love that it’s going to derive from academia.” Recently Dr. Meagher’s husband, eight years her senior, has mentioned retirement. Dr. Meagher is just so excited about what she is doing—she says, “I’ll join you on the nineteenth hole, but I’m not stopping.” Though she is proud of what she has accomplished thus far in her career, “I think I’m only half-way there.”

Maybe I’m just a ridiculous optimist, but I really do feel that I’m going to see [the success of personalized medicine] within my lifetime."

However, Dr. Meagher says she does value her free time, during which you will always find her with her family. “What makes me happy is spending time with my family. Just, nothing like it. Drinking a bottle of wine with my kids. That is by far and away the thing that makes me happiest. The sustained happiness from being surrounded by family…having an unbelievably happy marriage, that’s been huge. Spending time with Noel, spending time with the kids…I sound like a Mastercard ad, but that’s truly priceless.”

Want to hear more? Listen to Dr. Meagher talk about her daily routine and how she wears all her different hats at Penn!